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With all the social media surrounding the election, transgender bathrooms, deaths and so much more it has me thinking about my own beliefs. This really has nothing to do with gardening but so much to do with what is infecting my mind while I garden. Before social media became a part of my daily life my thoughts were mostly about what was directly affecting me on a daily basis. Now it seems that I spend my days in a state of agitation over things that really don’t change my life. Whether you agree with me or not is up to you, but here are a few of my opinions and thoughts from the garden in the past weeks.

As far as the election is concerned. I don’t have anyone that I’d like to see win, other than my dad, Tim Helbling, as mayor of Mandan : ). I will vote because it’s my right and duty as a citizen but I’m beginning to think that my individual vote doesn’t hold any power. This is a sad thought and probably the reason that so many people do not exercise their right. The mockery that is politics today makes me sad. Seeing the decline of decorum on all sides is a major blow to the United States as a whole.

I had a long talk with my onion sets about transgender bathrooms. Transgendered people have been using the restrooms that they identify with since the beginning and not many people realize it. The problem comes with making a law. I’m against it as a mother for the fact that I don’t want to have this talk with my children and I do fear for the safety of my daughter. My fear stems more from young straight males than it does from someone who identifies as transgender. It’s not even so much the fear of sexual predators, although that fear is there, it’s more the young and often times stupid normal male population. Do you remember high school? I do and most of what I remember of males in my class is that they could be perverts. So maybe with bathrooms the risks are more imagined than real but does that make the feelings they invoke any less valid. Now lets take a look at dressing rooms and locker rooms. I have a very strong opinion here. Take a look at the movies Porkies and Police Academy. Both of these movies show a group of heterosexual males that take great enjoyment in female locker rooms. I will admit that this is what I assume the male mind thinks of when they think of a female locker room. Now lets give the fox a key to the henhouse. Another issue that I have with this is that most of the people who are pushing on social media to get rid of genetically modified food have no problem with genetically modified people.

As far as death and social media are concerned, I wonder if those that post about deaths in order to make a statement realize that when something is made into a competition on social media it starts to detract from the statement. It also diminishes the life of the person that died. The same thing goes with all the hoax diseases. Every time I come across a fear mongering post about a horrible disease that is really a piece of baloney over a kids face, I chuckle. Then I gasp in horror at all the people who fall for it. Next comes the anger. These posts are taking away from the very real diseases that are out there.

My lettuce seed got to hear about my daughters need for a social media presence. I refuse to let her have one. At this point I plan to hold onto this until she moves out of the house. This is very unrealistic and I’ll have to reevaluate it soon but for the time being I’m standing firm. Most adults don’t realize the impact of what they post, like, share, tweet. How is a teenager supposed to know the difference between something that is humorous and something that could harm their future. Kids have strong and swiftly changing emotions that they have little control over. What they are feeling one minute will be completely different in the next. Social media is instantaneous and that can be devastating. Another reason is that being a teenager is hard enough without feeling left out or teased just because a post is misinterpreted. I’d like to give her a little more time to develop a sense of self and some self control before setting her free on social media. She’ll have to be satisfied with Pinterest for now.

My last major thought was on entitlement. This I shared with my unplanted seeds as I sorted them and tried to find them a place. It’s really hard to turn down something that seems to be free. But as we take that supposedly free item or service, what are we really giving up? These things cost us more than we realize because we are blinded by the ideas handed to us. Everything has a price. Every law takes away a previous freedom. Going back to moral law instead of written legislation would be ideal but for the most part morals have been lost. Working for something that is being handed out may appear to be a dumb idea but what are you losing by taking the hand out. Work ethic, perseverance, pride, sense of worth, accountability, ingenuity these things are going the way of the dinosaur. Are you thinking of the other side? Someone has to pay for these things or not receive pay in order for you to have them free. If you do a job for $100 should you be able to keep that money? If you work harder or use more thought and make $1,000,000 should that money not be yours to do as you please? Why should one persons dollar be more theirs than the next persons?

So by now you are probably really glad that you’re not a plant in my garden. Most days my thoughts are not very heavy and the most my plants hear is about the weather and how much I hate weeds. Others, they get an earful. Thankfully my rows are long and there are lots of plants to share my thoughts with. I tend to believe it is not up to me to judge people no matter how our thoughts differ, and that because of my belief in God judgement will come to all of us by His hand when He sees fit. On the other hand as a human being I have opinions and thoughts on just about everything. Now that I’ve put this in writing I realize that I have way to much time to think and probably need to start reading good books instead of so many social media posts. Bookstore anyone?